The Afterlife: A Martyr's Respite
by GallantNavy
Summary: Gallant died. Again. Not that that's weird for him, or anything, he's done it several times. However, instead of getting sent to Limbo, like generally happens after he gives up his life for those around him, he wakes up in Canterlot directly after the whole wedding fiasco. Time to find out what happens to a man who's mind is breaking in a land full of magic, talking ponies.
1. Shreaded Spaces and War-Torn Wanderers

**_A/N: _**_Heyo everypony! Finally got this rework of the concept done, complete with 20% more awesomeness and over 100% more satisfaction in my heart. Took a good month's worth of work, but I think you'll agree with me that this is better than the first attempt I made. Speaking of the original that's staying in its own little story-thingy on here so I can look back at it and see just how bad things could've been! :D Be sure to leave a review when you're done, feedback is gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooood~ ^^_

**Chapter 1 - Shredded Spaces and War-torn Wanderers.**

It had been a long day for Celestia. Not only had she the usual duty of raising the glorious sun to bring forth the day, a task that would require roughly a hundred lesser spell-weaving ponies by itself, she also had to constantly remain on the lookout for possible dangers approaching Canterlot due to the serious (yet vague) threat that was made against it. While this wasn't exactly a tough task, especially when compared to raising the sun, it was surprisingly taxing on the old Alicorn's mind. Her hundreds of years of experience may have given her patience, yes, but lets see you constantly observe the surroundings of your city through a spyglass for days on end? Even Celestia gets tired.

Like right now. After scanning for signs of danger for a good six hours she had gone to get ready for her niece's wedding, a task that apparently gave an previously unseen mass of Changelings the opportunity to begin assaulting Shining Armor's barrier. Then, after Twilight and the real Princess Cadence exposed the Princess at the altar as the phony she really was, Celestia found herself unable to match the power Chrysalis had gained from "eating" Armor's love for Cadence and trapped within a cocoon! And now that the trouble seemed to have finally passed, Celestia found herself looking forward to two things equally: Her niece's now rescheduled wedding and taking a nice long nap, possibly one that actually spanned the full night rather than just half of one, as was the usual.

Problem was, the trouble wasn't over.

All were just about ready to depart from the grand hall where the prior attempt at wedding Cadence and Armor had been held (minus Pinkie Pie, she was still trying to get a gob of Changling gunk off of her mouth) when Celestial felt a disturbance in the air she hadn't before. It was a stubble feeling, so subtle the other ponies in the room didn't notice it, but it was just so odd a feeling that it made the Alicorn uneasy. Then again, just about anything out of the ordinary would've made her uneasy at this point, after the day she had.

Too bad the multiverse didn't really care what the Alicorn thought when it ripped great big hole in existence as she knew it into in one of grand pillars that supported the room. Thankfully this didn't cause the pillar to fall, but what was on the other side of the rip in well, _reality_, really put her on edge: Rolling, grey static, like that of an un-tuned television screen. However as ponies had yet to make TVs, this reminded her all too well of something Discord did regularly back when he was in power.

Needless to say her memories of such staticy-holes in time and space weren't all too pleasant...

While Celestia was busy wondering just how something could blow a hole in the fabric of reality while the God of Chaos was still solid stone (she would know, she checked him personally just yesterday after all) everypony else had taken to staring at the gaping hole in all that they knew, probably having been alerted to it by the distinct sound of shredding fabric that had accompanied its appearance. Applejack was the first to speak.

"Wh-what 'n tarnation is that?"

"I-I don't know..." Twilight answered, taking a curious step the unnatural occurrence before them. "But... i-it looks like a portal..."

"A-a portal t' where..?"

As if in answer, the anomaly decided then and there to do what it had barged into their realm to do: Spit something out of subspace that didn't belong there before sealing itself again. What it was... Well, nopony knew. It looked almost like a diamond dog in the way it was laid out (looking bipedal and all) but more streamlined, more smooth in its bodily construction. Also noticeable was the fact that its legs were all wrong, with paws that were too large, legs too thick and knees too far down its thighs, not to mention the fact that its head was far too small. On top of this, it seemed to wear a suit of armor of sorts, battered metal strips could be seen running across its torso, upper arms, legs and even face, with a durable looking fabric in woven in between them. The only exception was where its face should have been: an eerie, blue, flickering light shone out of the gaps there...

Regardless of what it was, it was currently slumped against the pillar across from the one the rip had appeared in, and having been violently jettisoned from the land of static and slammed against the stone that was now behind it, the thing was probably hurting. Not that anypony moved to help it up, what with having been scared out of their wits and all. Even Celestia (whom Fluttershy was now clinging to like a frightened cat) was shaken by the sudden intrusion, and she had been expecting something to come out.

_What... What is that?_ she found herself silently asking, _It looks dangerous, whate-_

"Nnnng..." The thing interrupted, slowly lifting its head from the limp angle that it had been hanging at. Its voice was unnaturally loud: somehow being able to clearly broadcast its small mumble to the entire room and cause Fluttershy to grip the Princess tighter. Its head wobbled just before reaching a proper upright position above the shoulders, however, so it brought a gauntleted paw to the side of its head in an attempt to combat its dizziness. Several moments later the flickering in its face-lights increased tenfold before suddenly shutting off completely, causing the thing to groan.

"D-damn.. Power cut out.." the inter-dimensional being observed in a now muffled voice. Apparently the lights were somehow tied to its volume, though only Twilight took to guessing why.

Speaking of Twilight, her brother was currently quietly directing members of the royal guard to surround the being at a distance, just in case it decided to get violent. Celestia of course agreed with this course of action, thankful that her Captain wasn't too intrigued/afraid of it to forget his job: protecting everypony else.

Unaware of the combat preparations going on around it, the thing proceeded to grip its head, or rather, its _helmet_, with both paws and attempted to pull it off, struggling in vain for a few seconds before the armor suddenly let go, causing its head to _POP_ out, which exposed its real face to the onlooking ponies. Whatever the thing was it seemed to be made out of flesh, as that was the color of its face... Albeit pale flesh. It also had a vibrantly red red, curly mane which was damp with what could only be assumed to be sweat. It looked at its protective mask for a few seconds before closing its eyes and taking a deep breath, leaning its head back against the pillar behind it and sighing in what seemed to be relief.

"They made it out..." It breathed, "Thank gods, they actually made it out..." At this it smiled, even venturing a small chuckle. "Mission accomplished, I guess..."

And then it fell silent, opting to peacefully lie slumped up against the pillar behind it obviously enjoying the quiet. Quiet the guardsponies around it were careful not to break as they began to edge their way closer, having decided to press their advantage and neutralize this potential threat before it could, you know, become an actual threat. It was slow going though, as they couldn't really lift their hooves off the ground to actually walk forward due to the fact that even soft hoofsteps were loud when combined with a quiet marble room. And Horseshoes. Those definitely didn't help.

However, despite the quite clopping heading for it, the thing simply continued to lie there, blissfully unaware of the fact that it was about to be set upon by ponies just trying to keep their kingdom safe. It wasn't until they were roughly three feet away that the thing finally did something, and even then the action wasn't directed at anypony in particular.

"Y'know," It began to to mutter, causing the still-advancing guards to freeze, "I don't remember Limbo's ground being so hard... Or there being anything to lean against now that I come to think of it..."

Nodding once to itself, it sat up straight, causing something on or in it to pop and crack in complaint. Probably bones, because it winced. "Or ever being in pain here..." Sighing in annoyance, it ventured to stand, eliciting more sounds of body parts complaining at having to move again as they were forced to regardless. The thing simply forced them to move more in response, limbering up with a few stretches, which of course caused the ponies in the room to tense up, even getting the more timid ones to gasp.

"And I know for certain that nothing lives in Limbo," It stated in a level volume, no longer muttering now that it knew it wasn't alone, "So, it's safe to assume..." It slowly opened its eyes, which immediately flicked down into the eyes of the guard directly in front of it. It smirked a little when the stallion flinched.

"That I'm not dead right now." The thing finished, letting the comment hang in the air as it looked over the armored pony in front of it, whom had no idea what to do. Celestia did, however, having been able to follow some of what the thing, which was evidently male if its voice were anything to go by.

"Guards, stand down," She commanded, drawing surprised looks from everypony in the room, which she quickly quieted by observing: "If he were hostile, somepony would probably be hurt by now." Hesitantly the guards obeyed, either satisfied with her explanation or simply not wishing to be the only only who wasn't, so they backed away a distance before turning and taking their assigned posts about the room. The being watched them go with a mild interest in its eyes.

"Militarized ponies." It observed, chuckling slightly. "Next I'll be waking up someplace spiderkitties and landsharks..."

"Is that so?" Celestia questioned, slowly walking towards the newcomer with a well-practiced benevolent smile on her face. Diplomacy with the Griffon Kingdoms required it, after all.

"Hell if I know, mam." He looked over at her, quickly finding he had to look _up_ a little at her and not minding in the slightest. _She doesn't have scythes for arms, after all. Though ponies don't even_ have _arms, sooooo..._

"The multiverse is funny like tha-" He stopped as a wave of pain suddenly washed through his mind, stirred up by the thoughts of those blade-armed beasts. "P-probably shouldn't have reminded myself about those..." He muttered after it had passed.

"I could be wrong but sudden headaches aren't a good thing for your kind, right?" Celestia asked, her tone as motherly as ever even as she prepared to erect a barrier about herself: She wasn't about to be defeated by a surprise attack _twice_ today. He shook his head in response before turning around to look at the room. The wedding hall was a sight to behold, even if the ceremony was ruined by a foreign invasion attempt.

"I'll be fine, mam, though I appreciate the concern." He replied, admiring the beauty of the architecture around him, just happy he wasn't being attacked for once.

Speaking of attacks, now that she was closer Celestia could see just how many this being had been through recently. You can tell an awful lot about a warrior based on the state of their armor, and this one's armor was battered to all hell and dulled by gore. And unprofessionally made if the jagged look to the edges and the still visible welds were anything go by. Also of interest, there was this strip of the armor running down where one would guess his spine lay that was glowing a yellow-green with a gap of black at the top where it looked like the glowing should continue.

"Did you make this yourself?" Twilight asked timidly from beside Celestia in an attempt to break the ice, whom had failed to notice her student and her friends draw nearer while her eyes examined the being's armor. When the Alicorn shot her student a questioning look who shot one back that said "If you trust him, then so do I."

"No..." He answered, shoulders falling a bit as some apparently sad memories hit him. Twilight waited a minute before trying again.

"Then who did? It doesn't look like a professional job..." It took the newcomer a while to respond, but when he did everypony present could tell it was hard for him, at least at first.

"His... His name was Diaz. I... I don't know if that was his first name or not, I... I never thought to ask him. Didn't seem important at the time... He found me after I had just escaped again and... Well, he thought I was just another civilian that needed protection from the plague. Not that he minded, but..." He began to chuckle a bit at the memory, "Well, you shoulda seen the look on his face when I saved him from a 'morph. Bastard was happy as all hell that there was someone else who could actually be of some help instead of relying on him. Found me this engineer's RIG and started welding scrap to it so I wouldn't get cut in two by a Slasher, then handed me a this cobbled together Rivet Gun" -He idly tapped the weapon strapped to his leg, which _everpony _in the room somehow failed to notice- "and told me that everyone's odds of survival had just gone up by another five percent..." He chuckled again, though it was a sad one. "If he only knew how right he was..."

"What happened to him?" Celestia asked after a short period of silence, already knowing the answer in her gut.

"He... He kept a Regenerator busy so I could get the Civies to the shuttle... I... I don't..." He bit his lip, closing his eyes and looking off to the side, unable to continue.

"I see..." It struck Celestia that even though that this being had probably seen horrors she hoped most certainly would never grace Equestria, he still seemed young. At least in the face, anyway. She looked down at Twilight, who seemed to be sympathizing with the warrior before them. _Same young eyes..._

"He died for a good cause." He stated suddenly, walking away from the ponies before him towards a window. "One that I gave my life for shortly afterward."

"But you're not dead!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, exasperated with just how dark and depressive this guy was being and flying over to look him in the face. "You're here now, aren't you?!"

"Aye, that I am, but I know for a fact that I died. I know what dying feels like, and that was most definitely death."

"How would you know what dying feels like, have you died before or something?!" She pressed her face against his, figuring she had him backed into the metaphorical corner.

"Yes," He deadpanned, mildly amused by her attempt at a pep-talk.

"That's what I thought, so quit being so gloomy and-" She began, fluttering away triumphantly before doing a double-take when she actually processed what he just said, "_WHAT?!_"

"You heard me," He replied, a small smile on his face as he turned around to face her. "I've died a few times. It's not pleasant. Don't try it." Dash just fluttered there, mouth open in disbelief as Twilight took a step forward.

"But that's not possible! Ponies only die once, then they pass on to Hades and get to be with their friends and family for the rest of eternity! They don't come back and die again!"

"One problem though: I'm not a pony." The obviously not-pony being pointed out, unimpressed by her attempt at denying what he'd experienced firsthand.

"So? Dragons, Griffons and Diamond-Dogs go there too! Surely your kind has _some_ kind of afterlife?"

"We do." He conceded, drawing a triumphant smile from the young unicorn before he continued, "The majority consensus anywhere I go is that there are in fact _two_ afterlives for mankind: Hell for the wicked and Heaven for everyone else. But don't go there, for some reason." His face hardens as he goes further. "No, instead of getting sunshine and lollipops and whatever else they get in Heaven or even the eternal fires of Hell, do you know what I get? I get this grey and darker grey hole known I call Limbo for an afterlife. Do you know what I do in Limbo? I wander. I wander for days and weeks and months and years on end, _looking for a way out!_ Because Limbo is _nothing!_ It's just this little pocket of reality that nobody does anything with, hell I don't know if anyone besides me even knows it _exists!_" He was yelling at this point, and he stopped himself so he take a few calming breaths before continuing.

"The only saving grace about this place is it's got holes in it, ways out of the gray into the spaces between realms, other places I haven't been before. Entire universes full of things I can't fathom, not until I see them myself anyway. So I wander Limbo for what would be years, if time even exists there, to find one of these staticy-holes so I can try again. Try and live a life worth something to one of the gods so I can get some freaking _closure._

"You've got no idea how horrible it feels to throw yourself in front of an explosion to save the girl that you love only to die and _not know what happened to her._ To not know if she survived and was able to avenge your death, to save the freaking planet from a madman bent on killing everybody who wasn't _employed_ by him. Or to be struck down as you fought your way to a portal that lead to the deity that was filling your world with monsters. Or to be launched into space and not know if the civilians on that shuttle you got them to managed to find someplace safe from the living dead." At the mention of the 'morphs another wave of pain ran through his mind, causing him to grit his teeth in frustration.

"And those are only the ones I can remember anymore! After drifting for so long, after plunging myself into that cold, flickering _nothing_ in between realms so many times I've found that my memories aren't there anymore! I know I had a childhood, everyone does at some point, but I don't remember it! I know I had a life before all this- this pointless wandering, but I don't remember it! I know that during that life that I don't remember I had a _family_! Siblings, parents, pets, uncles, aunts, grandparents- guess what? _They're all gone too!_" He was crying now, but he didn't care: This was the first time he'd told anybody about the memory-loss, and godsdamnit, if felt _good_ to get this off his chest. "I am _nothing_, I have _nothing_, and all I get out of life is _nothing._

"But that doesn't matter, does it?! The gods don't care if I'm nothing because, guess what?! This nothing's awfully good at protecting those that _are_ something! So who cares if I'm broken beyond repair so long as those that actually matter get to fulfill _their_ purpose, right?! Right?!" Finally done, he dissolved into tears, his mind having decided to give up coherent thought for a while, just as his body decided now would be a good time let his legs give way. So he sat there, letting his emotion run down his face and his pain work itself out of his heart. The last thing he expected from the ponies that he had just yelled at was some help, so it came as a complete surprise when one of them decided to do the one thing that could help him at this point.

Fluttershy hugged him.

You'd think that someone hurting as bad as he, someone who's suffered through years of, well, suffering, would shove her aside, recoil from the physical contact, to do something, _anything_ to get this mare away from him so he could work it out on his own, as he's always done. But he didn't. As Celestia had observed, he was still young at heart. The young want to be held and comforted when they feel broken inside, right?

Damn straight.

So, it should come as no surprise that he sorta glommed onto her and cried his heart out into her shoulder, which she gladly gave. You know how Fluttershy is, right? If so, you also know how her friends are, and that such a sight kinda broke their hearts to varying degrees. Heck, it even broke Shining Armor's heart a little bit, and he was the hardened Captain of the Gaurd who still didn't trust the new guy. The end result was a group hug centered about the sobbing stranger that excluded only the Solar Princess, because she only hugs her family (or Twilight and hers, for whatever the reason) and her guards, because they happen to have excellent discipline. Princess Cadence, much to Armor's surprise, was right up in there with the younger ponies because, well, she's kinda the Goddess of Love. Strong maternal instincts go hand-and-hand (hoof-and-hoof?) with that.

Needless to say this sudden flood of acceptance and sympathy from so many sources overwhelmed his broken-hopeless feeling and quieted the extra-dimensional one down real fast. The ponies backed off shortly afterwards. With a large inhale through the nose, he stood up again, a small smile on his face.

"Thank you," He muttered, looking at the mares before him, which earned a chorus of 'Don't mention it's from them.

"It's not like we'd leave anypony t' cry alone, mister..?" Applejack continued, looking for his name.

"Gallant," he answered, confidence (and voice) now restored.

"Ehh, 'Gallant' what?" The farmer pressed, looking for the _rest_ of his name, which earned a shrug from the biped.

"Just Gallant as far as I remember. Subspace stole the rest a while ago I guess."

"Well thats-"

"That's just dreadful!" Rarity interrupted, over-dramatic as ever. "To not know your own name, how do you manage?"

"But I do know my name: It's Gallant. That's enough for me." Gallant replied, not seeing the big deal. "Its not like I've forgotten who I am, I've just _always_ been called Gallant. Not knowing the rest doesn't bug me. Now, not knowing my own _family_ bu-"

_**RIIIIIIIIIIIP!**_

Whatever else he was going to say was cut off by the familiar sound of shredding fabric as the hole in all that ever was and would be in this reality tore its way back into the pillar from before, startling everypony (body?) in the room.

"What _now_?" Both Celestia and Shining Armor asked in unison, both obviously annoyed that nothing was giving them a break today. Gallant took a couple steps towards the anomaly before doubling over as another stab of mental pain attacked him, growling after it had passed.

"Trouble, that's what." He sneered, drawing the "Rivet Gun" strapped to his leg and leveling it at the static.

"T-trouble?" Fluttershy squeaked, not liking the change in Gallant's tone at all. Pinkie finally peeled the green gunk off her face to answer for him (don't ask how it got there in the first place, or how it took so long to get off her, or if that's the reason why she hadn't spoken before now, Dash wouldn't like it)

"Big trouble." She affirmed, sounding dead serious. Serious Pinkie-Pie never was a good sign. Gallant nodded in agreement before double-taking at her.

"How would you-"

"Pinky-Sense." She stated grimly, "Now, eyes forward Shooty McShooter, we're you're about to have a Regenerator on your hands!"

"Regen- _WHAT?!_" Panic was evident on Gallants face as his face snapped forward so he could look back at the hole, in which the static was somehow starting to look more violent, "Regenerators can't be killed!"

"Then get a bigger gun!"

"How?!"

"Like this!" Pinkie bounded up to stand atop Gallant's shoulders (Somehow fitting two hooves atop each of them) and yell "DEPLOY: OVERDRIVER!" at the glowing strip on his spine, which in turn caused the digital construction module in the armor to flare to life. Admittedly Gallant had completely forgotten about the things he had stored in the suit's data-banks, but-

"How the hell did you know about that?!" He demanded, starting to grow more afraid of the mare on his shoulders than the unkillable Necromorph that was apparently on its way to rip them apart.

"Pinkie-Sense!" She yelled back, grabbing the freshly digistructed gun from behind Gallant, jumping down in front of him and forcing the weapon into his hands after ripping his Rivet Gun from his grip and holstering it.

"Now go make Mamma proud!" Gallant just sputtered nonsense syllables for a few moments before shaking it off: No time to be confused, time to roll with it.

"Yes, _mam_!" He replied, face hard again as the portal flared then spat out the expected Necromorph, which crashed into the opposite wall just like he had not even an hour ago.

"Everybody take cover!" He bellowed as it quickly righted itself using its blade-like arms, drawing a savage grin from Gallant when it turned to face the source of the noise: him.

"Time to get back to work."


	2. Rising Action

_Necromorph._

_By definition, these things are hard to kill, especially when compared to the other forms of undead out there. Unlike simple zombies or skeletons, which are nothing more than reanimated corpses given a simple goal to accomplish which generally involves attempting in vain to kill the heroes of whatever story they happen to show up in, Necromorphs have a different goal entirely:_

"...nt.."

_Become whole._

_An abstract concept, mankind has taken several different ideas on what the words "Make us whole" actually mean ever since they was first uttered by those under the effects of the twisted obelisks known only as "Markers." These strange artifacts ingrain this message into the minds of sapient beings around them, eventually driving the majority of the affected to either commit suicide or murder in an effort to get the mutterings of the tainted objects out of their skulls, unknowingly giving the Markers the tools they need to bring entire planets to their knees._

_The Markers, through some way unknown to mankind, take the flesh that is so easily presented to it and warp it. What was once the next door neighbor that stabbed himself in the throat to get the whispers to stop is now a drone designed for killing. Bones have shifted, organs have been converted to muscle, and all semblance of what he once was is gone under the twisted influence of the Markers. What he becomes is up to the Markers to decide._

"... nt... up.."

_Most commonly they become Slashers, monsters with sharpened bone-blades at the ends of their arms and no vitals to aim for. The only way to truly end a slash is to remove both its arms and its head, at which point it is rendered unable to be of any use for its inanimate masters for anything other than flesh to warp later on, if given the time. There are other kinds of Necromorphs out there, each with different abilities that essentially boil down to different ways to destroy life. None are more terrifying than the dreaded Regenerator, however._

_Essentially a Slasher that the Markers have had far too much time to play with, Regenerators are believed to be created by fusing a fuckton of dead flesh together with an existing Slasher in a process that is assumed to take at least several years. While this is unsupported by any true evidence, it is by far the most feasible explanation for how these abominations come to be and why they can do what they do: Regenerate lost limbs, just like their name implies._

"Gal... cup.."

The theory goes that these things have absorbed so much flesh that their torsos are nothing more than a form of hyper-compressed organic matter and that when they need to regrow something they just make themselves another whatever with the flesh stored within them so they can keep on killing. Not very scientifically plausible, but then again, alien objects reanimating corpses isn't very plausible either, is it?

"...nt, wake... cup... "

_Regardless, Regenerators are one of the most feared forms of Necromorph out there simply due to the fact that there is no known way to kill one. Don't bother with body-shots if you find yourself up against one, these things can shrug off bullets like you can shrug off dust; the most you can do is blow off its limbs and get as far away from it as physically possible as it grows itself some stabby new arms to kill you with so you can help them in their quest to "become whole." Which essentially means kill the planet and all be dead together forever._

**"Get the buck up!"**

_Or something._

Groaning in pain, the biped in question brought himself to a semi-sitting position before opening his eyes. Before him stood Shining Armor, who was currently struggling to keep up a barrier between the two of them and the undead brute hell bent on impaling them.

"Sir, he's up!"

Make that four: Turns out there were another two gaurdsponies inside the bubble as well, an armored unicorn (who had probably been trying to use the smelling salts floating in front of Gallant's face to get him back in the fight) and a pegasus with blades affixed to the ends of his wings.

"Thank Celestia; I don't know how many more hits I can block!" the Captain praised through gritted teeth as the 'morph landed another heavy blow on the shield.

"Then drop it just before it hits again, should buy us a second or two," Gallant suggested, bringing himself back to his feet and cursing the sudden pain in his chest that reared its head when he did. Fearing a broken rib, he asked the guard beside him how his "readout" was, drawing a confused look from the unicorn.

"Your wha-"

"NOW!" Armor bellowed, cutting the guard's confused response short as he dropped the barrier and dived out of the way, his companions following suit the instant afterward. As a result, the Regenerator that had been attempting to break in hit nothing but open air and stumbled forwards as a result. Its prey took this moment to distance themselves from the monster before it growled and gave chase, quickly catching up to the wounded Gallant despite his head start.

Sensing this, the human dived to the side yet again, rolling to face his assailant as he hit the ground in order to fire off a volley from the Overdriver, which appeared to the ponies gathered to be some form of rapid-fire, long-range weapon. This proved ineffective against the Regenerator, however, as it simply took the hits and turned to face the one foolish enough to dare harm it.

"That's right, no pretty ponies for you," Gallant taunted as it gathered itself to charge again, "Not while there's a tasty human rip apart, anyway."

In reality, Gallant was terrified by the beast of a Necromorph, but the situation demanded he keep a level head about this: If he didn't then innocent lives would be lost, and that's something he just wouldn't have. Unfortunately, four such lives had insisted on assisting him while the others either went for the Elements of Harmony or to gather the rest of the guard for the quite possible worst case scenario that it managed to slaughter everypony before help could arrive. The only real positive in this was that these three had just bought Gallant a few more minutes to distract the 'morph and keep it from rampaging through the castle. Speaking of rampaging-

"Get outa th' way!" The pegasus yelled as the Regenerator threw itself at the human, taking a wing to try and knock it off course before it could get to him. Gallant wasn't about to get thrown into another wall by attempting in vain to doge the hulking mass of reanimated flesh again, however, so he did what he should have done the first time: stop shooting and activate his Stasis module.

By making a gesture akin to that of throwing a ball, the various sensors in Gallant's suit registered the request to generate and release a burst of Quantum energy concentrated into a small orb along the would-be arced path of the imaginary throw, which the Regenerator happened to be in the path of. On impact, the orb destabilized and dispersed in a pretty blue flash, coating the 'morph in Quantum energy and dooming it to become essentially immobile as its personal timeline was rendered moving a fraction of the world around it. In a nutshell, Gallant just threw a (scientifically possible) magical blue ball that froze the Necromorph in time, or that's what the ponies watching thought anyway. Luckily the pegasus was able to alter his trajectory and not crash into his now stationary enemy or he may have broken something.

"How the buck?!" he questioned as he came back around to hover by the human, who was currently in the process of removing a silver canister from his weapon, "You said you can't do magic!" And indeed Gallant had, just after the same pegasus asked if he could magic up some bigger blades for his wings when he volunteered to stay and fight.

"I can't," Gallant began, tossing the container to the ground and holding his hand down to his side before continuing, "My suit just lets me do things. Like this: RELOAD!" Upon the verbal command, spoken clear and loud, an smaller secondary digi-struct light ignited on the inside of Gallant's hanging forearm, quickly building another silver cylinder. As soon as the light switched off the new object fell into his open hand, and he wasted no time in loading it into his weapon's open port and closing its hatch.

"I don't-" the pegasus began before realizing this wasn't the time or the place and sighing, "Nevermind, tell me about it after we've killed this thing."

"Fat chance of that, wings," Gallant replied with a weary smile, tapping a button on his shoulder which caused his suit to hiss, which in turn caused the both of them to tense, though for different reasons.

"What was that?" the quadruped asked, looking for another unseen foe.

"Meds hitting my system," Gallant chuckled, practically feeling the meter on his back rise few notches, "That's all."

"'Meds'? You mean that thing can heal you too?"

"Just a little," Gallant grinned, leveling his reloaded weapon at the 'morph, which was starting to speed up again. He paused, however, before opening fire again to ask a question, "What's your name?"

"Changed it to Blade Rush after joining the Guard," the pegasus replied, evidently proud of it.

"Well, Mr. Rush," Gallant began, getting ready to fight again as the 'morph's timeline synced back up with the world's, "You picked a good way to die."

* * *

Discord was happy.

Not happy that he was still imprisoned, mind you, he absolutely loathed that fact, but he was positively giddy due to the deliciously chaotic events that had happened to transpire today. Not only was there a wedding crashed (an event that made him grin internally by itself) but there also happened to be an invasion attempt that happened directly afterward! A practical smorgasbord of chaos and anarchy for him to feast on! It was almost a dream come true!

Almost.

Just when Discord was ready to go all out with a mental victory dance as all seemed lost for Canterlot and the foalish harmony worshiping buffoons that lived there, order was somehow restored by the "Power of Love" or some other garbage like that, and Discord was left utterly disappointed and facing an indefinite number of bored years trapped in stone once more. The part that made this defeat even more bitter, however, was the fact that if things would've gone the other way he could have easily busted free from his containment within a month, what with all the havoc those changelings were planning. Who knows, maybe he would've helped them as a way of saying "thank you" for getting him out of his concrete full-body cast! But alas, that would never come to pass, not within the next few centuries at least.

So, considering this, why was he happy now?

The answer was quite obvious, actually, and if you didn't see it coming when I first mentioned Discord being happy, you are far to intellectually underdeveloped to be reading this story.

_Quite right,_ The God of Chaos affirmed, gladly breaking the fourth wall after the narrator demonstrated this was acceptable._ One would think a "Teen" rating would keep small children from reading this, right?_

Agreed.

_However,_ Discord continued, giddy over the fact something like this was currently allowed,_ As much as I like breaking the rules, I think we should stop before we take it too far, don't you?_

I'm the narrator. _I'm_ the one who decides when we've gone too far.

Wrong~ Discord though in a sing-song tone, The readers are~

Beg pardon?

_You and I both know you'd stop writing if people stopped reading, Mr. Gallant._

Touche.

_Thata boy! Don't worry though, I'm quite looking forward to that other story you've been planning._

Now's not the time for that, Discord.

_True, but I can't wait for them to read about our little escapades in an actual self-insert rather than this pseudo one you've been writing. Maybe it'll keep you from breaking the seriousness of this one up with things like this, hm?_

Shut it and get back into character.

_Make me,_ the draconequus replied, mentally sticking out his tongue before realizing he was being narrated again and sighing,_ Cheater..._

Fourth wall shattering and duct-taping together again aside, Discord was still happy. Not because he had gotten to destroy the immersion of this tale, but because wellspring giant of mental chaos was currently in the middle of fighting with a lesser one in the tale, which in turn was creating corporeal chaos in the corporeal world, chaos Discord to grow stronger from. What's more, the larger wellspring was sapient, which meant he could not only feed of the chaos it caused, but tweak this and that in its mind so it would inadvertently cause more chaos without even trying!

Maybe this won't be near as long as I thought, Discord admitted to himself as he floated among the wrecked thoughts of the large wellspring, quite surprised that something so chaotic on the inside could be so unassuming on the outside. Honestly, what's going on in here would have driven just about anypony I've met into wonderful insanity by now. He stopped for a moment when another thought struck him, however, Except Pinkie Pie... Then again, one can hardly count her as sane, can they? Just like my little Screwball, I suppose. Shrugging it off, he continued onward, looking for something that he could use to dredge up some more chaos and make sure that this potential escape didn't get himself killed.

* * *

Meanwhile, on the other end of the castle, Celestia and her element bearers had finally reached the room that contained what they believed to be their only hope at stopping that apparently unkillable beast and were currently in the process of donning them so they could head back and save the day. Unfortunately, it was at this time that Pinkie's entire body went into a fit of shakes and spasms, something Twilight and the others recognized as her real Pinkie sense, not whatever she had done to know about Gallant's extra weapon. Twilight was still trying to figure that one out, actually.

"What in tarnation does that one mean, Twi?" Applejack asked as Pinkie involuntary bounced past the apple farmer.

"I haven't the slightest idea," Twilight admitted, never having seen this particular sequence, or anything rivaling it actually. The closest thing was just after she had finally given in to the impossibility of Pinkie's power, but even that hadn't lasted a full thirty seconds!

"Whatever it is," Dash observed, "It's friggin' huge!" Fluttershy nodded in silent agreement.

"And positively dreadful, I might add," Rarity indeed added as Pinkie started an bouncing on her head of all things.

"This isn't normal... Is it?" Celestia observed. She knew Pinkie had her moments, and often had them frequently, but nothing of this magnitude.

"No," Twilight sighed, growing increasingly concerned for her rubbery, candy guzzling friend. She needn't worry long, though, as a few seconds later, precisely 42 seconds after she had started, Pinkie came to a stop on all fours and was still.

Until she wasn't.

"Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygosho hmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooosh! " The pink earth pony screamed, panicking worse than she ever had before (barring the time she thought her friends had abandoned her, that is.) "Wegottamovewegottamovewegottamooooooooooooooove!" 

And with that, she was gone, hurling back the way they came as fast as her hooves would carry her. Obviously the others gave chase, but it they didn't have to go too far before Rainbow Dash carried the panicking pink party pony back to the group, refusing to put her down until she explained what that spurt of Pinkie-ness meant. Unfortunately she was unable to even register Dash talking to her, or even carrying her in this panicked state as she continued to paw (hoof?) at the air as if she were still running along. Eventually Celestia had to resort to gently taking Pinkie from her flying friend and ask her in her ever-motherly tone what was wrong. The answer, while uncharacteristically concise for such a long outburst, shook everypony to their core:

"If we don't get back as super-dee-duper-lee quick as we can, somepony's going to _DIE!_"

* * *

Back inside Gallant's psyche, Discord was laughing, no, scratch that, he was merrily blasting something that resembled laughter out of his apparently sub-woofer strong lungs in celebration for what could be the discovery of the decade, if not the century. Within the twisted, cramped openness of the human's mind, where memories collided and broke and the orange flicker of Marker-taint was slowly building itself a shrine, Discord had somehow found precisely what he had been looking for when he had first entered.

And it had only taken five minutes of real-time!

You see, Dischord knew from the moment that he had set mental foot into this space of delicious chaos that there had to be some dark side to this boy of a man, this being who for all intents and purposes should never had existed beyond his first death and thus should never had come anywhere near Equestrian soil. Granted, this "dark side" was now in fact a part of the Marker-taint's little shelter from the rest of the chaos, but there was one region of his mind in particular that for whatever the reason it had decided to take the memories of specific people and leave the rest. Maybe to warp them and turn them against him, perhaps? Discord salivated at the thought of what that could do to the boy, though he made a mental note inside his mental projection that if it got too out of hand he may have to intervene: he had to preserve his source of strength, right?

Potential future life/sanity saving aside. Discord was still nearly as happy as he had been earlier today when Chrysalis had nearly won. Because he had found it:

He had found Pandora.

* * *

**_A/N: _**_Cliiiiiff Hangar, hanging from a cliiiiiiiiiif!_

_ And that's why he's called Cliff Hangar!_

_Leave a review if you remember that show, or better yet, if you've some input on the story thus far. I love me some constructive criticism~_


	3. The Beauty of a Bloody Euphoria

The battle wasn't going well.

Gallant was currently picking himself back up after getting blindsided by a surprisingly strong back swing that actually caused the biped to skid across the floor on his rump, Blade Rush was dodging and parrying slash after slash as his foe continued to bear down on him, and Shining Armor was incapacitated, having tried to shield one too many a stab than his vitality would allow. The other unicorn, known as "Pockets" by his Captain, was in the middle of loading another explosive bolt into the crossbow he somehow managed to pull out from under his cloak. Regardless of where it had come from, the crossbow and its devastating ammunition had both bought the group a valuable minute to breathe by downing the beast once already _and_ blowing off its left blade this time around.

"How-" Rush began, jumping backwards to avoid a spike to the face, "Long do we have to keep this up again?!"

"Until the Elements arrive or we kill this thing," Replied a level-headed Pockets, probably because he wasn't currently being harassed by the undead.

"Hate to break it to you," Gallant yelled to the unicorn as he rushed the 'morph once more, hoping to give his pegasus pal a little breathing room, "But this thing can't be killed!"

"Nonsense: if it lives, it dies!" Pockets stubbornly replied, grunting as he finally yanked the string back into its firing position with his magic and hooking it in place.

"But it ain't living in the first place!" Rush protested, ducking another slash just as Gallant threw himself into the beast's back, unbalancing it. Not one to let such an opportunity slip past, the pegasus quickly spun and slashed at his foe across the thighs a few times with his wings before disengaging and gaining some space.

"We'll see about that!" The mage leveled his crossbow at the mass of animated flesh, the freshly loaded bolt eagerly awaiting its chance at glory as its master bellowed, **"Fire in the hole!"**

And then he fired.

Gallant was still on its back.

* * *

Just over a couple minute's gallop away, the Elements and their Bearers were suddenly brought to a halt as Pinkie began spasming again, eyes growing larger than ever before.

_"HURRY!"_ She screeched, bolting off even faster than before despite her body randomly jumping from side to side as it attempted to convey another grim message that nobody wanted to hear. Everypony hastened to catch up in response, though not even fifteen seconds later Celestia felt a dagger of pain bury itself in her core causing her to trip over herself and nearly break her neck on the floor. However, before anypony could slow down to try and see if she was alright she ordered the others to press on.

In her Royal Canterlot Voice.

Needless to say, the Bearers moved even faster as a result: Celestia's Voice is even scarier than her sister's. Scarier than that, however, was what had pained the alicorn mere seconds ago: A large discharge of Chaos.

* * *

At the exact instant that Pinkie set to spasming, Discord's mental projection into Gallant's psyche was wincing. You would too if you were in inside the mind of somebody who had narrowly avoided being blown to bits. Seriously, pain conducts well through mental projections, and they attract it like lightning-rods. Not a fun experience, even for an , it could've been much worse, Gallant could have actually died with Discord still in his noggin, and even the Chaos Lord had no idea what would happen then.

Luckily, 'Cordly's bipedal warrior had managed to push off from the Necromorph before the bolt exploded and shield his face in a manner that made his armor take the brunt of the blast, but he was nowhere near safe yet. Unfortunately refined Somatic Gel can only numb so much pain and repair so much damage before greater medical care is required, and this was most definitely one of those times: Gallant only had three segments left to his RIG's now blood red vitality meter, meaning he was pretty much on his last leg and would probably fall unconscious within a few minutes before bleeding out.

_This simply will not do, especially when the lad has so much potential,_ Discord thought out loud, or as out loud as a mental projection can be when plunged into someone's subconscious. _Time to find out what that big red button does!_

Indeed there was a big red button floating through Gallant's memories of Pandora, one labeled "DO NOT TOUCH" in big white lettering. Normally the Baron of Blasphemy would've immediately popped that power pinata without a pause to ponder its potency practically upon peeping on it, but there was a piece of information that placed this particular power pinata into the "pop post pondering" party: a pink Post-It note. (Say that seven times fast, Discord _dares_ you to get it right.) This particular pink Post-It note read: "Unless VIPs are at risk."

_"Very Important Ponies," _Discord had initially puzzled, _But he comes from a series of places that lack ponies, important or otherwise..._

Now, however, he hit that big red button with absolute joy, having a good idea of what was going to happen based on the memories that he had peeked at while he was puzzling.

_Time to watch the fireworks!_ he cheered, conjuring up a comfy bed of nails and some refreshments to enjoy as the show commenced.

* * *

_Pain..._

Inhale.

_Bloody pain everywhere..._

Exhale.

_Good..._

Inhale.

_Means I'm still alive..._

Exhale.

_Alive..._

Inhale.

_Fuck me, I'm still alive..._

Groan in frustration.

_Time to get back into the fight..._

Inhale, tense up and attempt to move.

_Naaaahg!_

Collapse, releasing pent up breath.

_Nope, no good..._

Inhale.

_Can't even pick myself back up..._

Exhale.

_Well fuck..._

Inhale.

_Now what..?_

Exhale, twitching.

_Wait, what is that..?_

Inhale sharply as a familiar feeling appears.

_N-no way... I-I sealed that up..!_

Tense up, the feeling spreading.

_How is this possible..!?_

Start to pick self back up, adrenaline raging through veins, inducing pain.

_FUCK ME RUNNING! NO MOR-_

Pain stops, endorphins following, mental aptitude increasing.

_N-never mind, I-I'm good... I-I'm really good, actually..._

Exhale and smirk a little as hands and knees are reached. Look up at the battle.

_N-not just good, I'm feeling great..! Why did I lock this away aga- Oh hell no, you are not getting them while they try to help me!_

Break into a sadistic grin, hurling Stasis charge at the enemy.

_Fuck yeah! Lets see how you like me now, bitch! Imma fuckin'... fuckin'... FUCKIN' MAKE A COAT OUTTA YAH!_

Grab your gun. Learn 'em not to mess with a former Vault Hunter the only way you know how: With a jury-rigged shotgun and a smile that'll freezetheir soul solid!

* * *

The Element Bearers burst into the room to find one red-maned biped struggling to pick himself back up while two guardsponies looked over him, trying to find a way to assist their ally, while a monster writhed on the ground, quickly rebuilding both of its arms _and_ its head.

_"Oh my goodness!"_

Fluttershy was the first one to break out of her initial shock and rush over to the bloodied biped, her maternal instincts simply not allowing her to stand idly by when somepony was hurt. Pinkie was soon to follow, her Sense-induced jitters making it look like she had a _bit_ too much sugar with her breakfast of cupcakes this morning, followed closely by the rest of the group, all having various degrees of concern apparent on their faces.

"What happened?" Twilight inquired, noticing the smell of singe coming of the wounded man.

"Pockets nearly blew 'im up, that's what happened!" Blade Rush accused, clearly distraught at his newfound brother-in-arms nearly getting blown up by one of his _other_ brothers-in-arms.

"He what?!"

"He was on the brute when I fired an explosive charge at it," The unicorn defended himself, "Wouldn't have been a problem if he had gotten away when I told him to!"

"You didn't give him any warning! You just said 'Fire in the hole' and fired!"

"There it is right there, that's your warning!"

"Not when you fire directly afterward! He probably saw the bolt bury itself in that thing before he even heard you!"

"That's not even possible, arrows don't travel faster than sound!"

"Doesn't matter! You don't pay near as much attention when you're in the middle of a fight!"

"I was in the middle of the same fight I could hear me just fine!"

"Not hoof-to-hoo-"

**"QUIET!"** Rarity shrieked, startling everypony, "We have more pressing matters before us at the moment!" She finished in a much more ladylike, yet forceful voice, gesturing at the human who was now on his hands and knees. Despite the lack of medical supplies, Fluttershy was still right there, cooing soothing words into his ear... Which strangely enough was causing the meter on his back to raise slowly, going from three red notches from empty to full and glowing a teal-blue in the matter of several seconds.

"Fluttershy, how are yah doing that?" Applejack asked, ogling the now full vitality indicator with wonder.

"Doing wha-" The butter-coated mare began to ask, jumping from fright when Gallant suddenly swung his arm at the forgotten Necromorph, launching another orb of stasis at it to buy more time, unsettling everypony with the grin that was now plastered on his face.

"Gallant?!" Twilight exclaimed, surprised at his sudden movement and the creepy, "Imma eat your babies" smile he as now sporting. "Are you okay?"

The human chuckled in response, standing up straight and holding his hand out to his discarded weapon. This struck the ponies gathered as strange, wondering if he was expecting it to fly up to his hand out of its own volition without the use of magic, when an orb of crackling electricity suddenly sparked into existence about his hand, causing several of them to jump: They had forgotten about his suit, but he sure as hell didn't. The instant after it formed, it shot beam out that struck the weapon, encased it in a similar orb, and quickly pulled it back into his waiting palm.

As soon as it was in his possession he quickly proceeded to reload it, then messing with some gadgets more towards the firing end of the weapon. A tug here, a push there and a press here, and suddenly parts started moving of their own accord, clinking and clanking until it finally stopped as suddenly as it had started. The end result was a weapon looking of the same overall concept, but with a shorter, wider business end than before. Directly after this he dropped the object and drew his Rivet Gun, quickly performing a similar series of deft movements that left it with a blade almost as long as it was prior attached to the end!

Now done performing his techno-wizardry, Gallant holstered the pistol (having to poke a hole into the bottom of it so the thing would sit properly in it) and picked his other weapon back up, aiming it at his now accelerating foe as his grin grew more fur-raising.

"Come make us whole, motherfucker," He rather cheerily requested as the ponies about him began to move away. While guards were wearily getting into position for round three, the Elements weren't thinking about fighting at the moment, especially when there was a potentially psychotic biped involved. A biped who wasn't moving in the slightest as the Regenerator hurled itself at him once more.

"Look ou-" Dash attempted to warn as it quickly got within striking distance, preparing to tackle the human out of danger if need be. Not that there was any need, that is.

Gallant was in more than ready for it.

* * *

Discord grinned widely as his human host dropped to his back, squeezing the trigger to the weapon now configured as a "Rivet Shotgun" as the viewing screen named it. The result was a sudden volley of high-speed rivets firing off at the same instant and burying themselves into the undead flesh that above. While this certainly didn't do any sort of lasting damage to the regenerating beast, it still did a _noticeable_ amount of damage to it, which was more than what the "Rivet Chaingun" he was wielding prior.

_I_ knew _he had more tricks up his sleeve!_ The spectating Draconequus cheered, slurping merrily on the bucket of popcorn he had summoned like it were some form of smoothie. _And he's just getting started too!_

And if the thoughts currently swirling through Gallant's consciousness were anything to go by, Discord's observation was the biggest understatement of the century. The button the Chaos Monger had punched had temporarily overclocked the boy's brain, allowing him to think, act and react much faster than he would otherwise be able to, meaning he could plan far ahead into the fight... So far ahead, in fact, that he was currently planning how he what route would take to try and escape Limbo when he died again, because lets face it: He was going up against something that by definition_ can't die._ Not that this bothered the Wanderer any: It just meant he could pull out all the stops and go out in the most badass way physically possible.

Because that's all that really mattered anymore.

* * *

Celestia was starting to panic.

After that initial surge of Chaos something was feeling deathly wrong with the air in her castle, and she didn't like it one bit. If it didn't hurt to run, she would have already made it to the suspected source of her trouble: That inter-dimensional being and the monster that had followed him to Equestria. There was no way they weren't tied in all of this.

However, it _did_ hurt to run, heck, it hurt to even _move_ at this point: that stab of weaponized disharmonic energy _really_ had picked a good time and place to nick her. And that's what worried her the most about it: the fact it was so potent, so specialized. Normally a surge of Chaotic energy simply would wash over an area and put the more sensitive beings in the location on edge, possibly change a thing here or there. But injure a pony? That was unheard of.

_Meaning, obviously, Discord is somehow involved,_ The alicorn concluded in a logical fashion, _Which is bad. Very, very ba-_

"This is for Diaz, bitch!"

_Diaz?_

Celestia hadn't realized it, but she was now just a short distance away from the hall in which the combat was taking place. Must've been walking while she was lost in thought. Time to see just what was causing all this trouble, right?

_Oh sweet mother look at all that blood! Where is he? Where is h-_ She was shocked out of her train of thought when the biped in question skidded to a stop in front of her, sporting several large gashes that were bleeding rather heavily onto the his armor and her floor. Despite this he was still grinning ear to ear and his RIG was still reading his condition to be at optimum, the flood of chemicals in his bloodstream not allowing for anything else.

"I'm not done yet!" He bellowed, throwing his now empty shotgun to this side and wrenching his sidearm off his leg before using that electrical tether-thing he used to recall his weapon before to hurl _himself_ at the Regenerator by latching onto the wall behind it. The Necromorph in question was looking much worse off than Gallant, what with several bloody dents in its torso and an arm hanging loosely by a tendon, metal rivets visible here and there sticking out of it. Yet it kept on fighting, as vicious as ever.

It quickly became apparent to Celestia after only thirty seconds of watching the ensuing battle that regardless how much luck Gallant had on his side, there was no way he could win: The gashes on the 'morph that she had noticed before were already healing. No matter what the human did, the monster would come out on top when its prey eventually became too exhausted to-

Speak of the devil.

With a sudden downward slash, the Regenerator had rendered Gallant unable to retaliate, not without getting cut in two, anyway. Unfortunately the way the human had blocked the strike left the tip of this opponent's blade mere inches from his face as he desperately attempted in vain to hold back the 'morph's strength. Even worse was the fact he was using the body of the Rivet Gun to block, meaning that there would me no sudden sidesteps to save his life by using the beast's strength against it. Couple that with the fact that his chemical high was on the wane, his vitality meter steadily draining as the adrenaline and other endorphins that had kept him going for so much longer than normal were ebbing away.

In laymen's terms...

* * *

_... I'm fucked._

Pain returning, fatigue rising...

_Dammit, there goes my chance at dying in style! I wanted to get impaled through the back after "letting my guard down" when I managed to down the sucker..._

Mental acuteness fading...

_And there goes coherent thought..._

Muscles screaming in outrage...

_No, wait, I can still think clearly... Huh... This must be the pre-death train of thought of clarity and shit normal people claim to get._

Legs about to give way, arms soon to follow...

_Neat._

RIG is flaring, beeping out a warning as it reaches two ticks from death...

_Well, I guess this was as good a run as any._

Hear the Princess Pony yell something to the others...

_At least they got their super weapon thingy here in time._

Lock eyes with the benevolent ruler, smile in acceptance...

_Good luck, Mrs. Princess-Pony-Lady-Mam._

Final burst of energy, the final struggle before the trip back...

_Hey..._

Body gives way, blade descends ever so slowly...

_Is that..?_

Goodbye life, I'll see you again when I get out of Limbo again...

_I-Is that a rainbow..?_

Impact.


End file.
